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Legacy Report - Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel - 23 May 2018

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CORPORATE SERVICES SCRUTINY PANEL

LEGACY REPORT 2014 - 2018

Presented to the States on 23rd May 2018

S.R.14/2018

Contents

Remit ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 Membership ............................................................................................................................................ 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 2 Work undertaken .................................................................................................................................... 4 Reports ............................................................................................................................................ 4 Comments Papers ........................................................................................................................... 5 Amendments ................................................................................................................................... 5 Roles of Scrutiny ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Methods of working ................................................................................................................................ 7 Suggestions for future work.................................................................................................................... 8 Further Suggestions ................................................................................................................................ 9

Remit

There shall be a scrutiny panel which is assigned the topics of corporate services, corporate policies and external relations' (Standing Order 135(1)(a)). The Panel's remit covers the Chief Minister and the Ministers for External Relations and Treasury and Resources (Code of Practice 4.2). Certain areas of the Chief Minister's remit (Financial Services, Digital and Competition) were scrutinised by the Economic Affairs Scrutiny Panel.

Membership

Deputy John Le Fondré (chairman)

Deputy Simon Brée (Vice-Chairman)

Deputy Kevin Lewis (appointed to the Panel on 9th December 2014)

Senator Sarah Ferguson (appointed to the Panel on 11th October 2016)

Connétable Chris Taylor (Panel member from November 2014 to 10th October 2017)

Public Hearing with Minister for Treasury and Resources, February 2015

Introduction

  1. The Corporate Services Panel has reviewed the work it has undertaken since its establishment by the States in November 2014 and agreed to provide a report to its successor Panel established by the States in its next session to assist in developing its own work programme.
  2. The report sets out:
  • The work undertaken by the Panel during the session 2014 – 2018;
  • Methods of working used by the Panel; and
  • Suggestions for issues that a successor Panel may wish to consider in developing its work programme.
  1. The Panel met  288 times between November 2014 and April 2018 (including electronic meetings). Details of minutes can be found on the scrutiny website.

Work undertaken

  1. The  primary  output  of  scrutiny  panels  is  usually  a  report  or  comments  paper. Sometimes, a panel's work will result in an amendment to a proposition or piece of legislation.

Reports

  1. The Panel presented 17 reports to the States Assembly in the period 2014 to 2018: Review  Reference  Presentation Date

2015

Council of Ministers proposed Strategic Priorities  R.8/2015  23rd February 2015 2015-2018


Public Finance (Jersey) Law 2005 - Amendment S.R.2/2015 Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 - 2019 S.R.6/2015 Jersey International Finance Centre (interim report) S.R.7/2015 Public Sector Pension Reform (Phase 2) S.R8/2015 Draft Budget 2016 S.R10/2015


22nd May 2015

2nd October 2015 30th October 2015 16th November 2015 11th December 2015


2016

MTFP 2016-2019 Impact Assessments R.58/2016  27th May 2016 MTFP Addition for 2017-19 S.R.6/2016  23rd September 2016 Draft Budget 2017 S.R.8/2016  9th December 2016

2017


Future Hospital Funding Strategy

Review of Electoral Reform

Jersey International Finance Centre (final report) Budget 2018 Interim Report (Impots Duties) Income Forecasting Model

Draft Budget Statement 2018


S.R.4/2017  13th April 2017 S.R.6/2017  5th June 2017 S.R.8/2017  14th July 2017 S.R.10/2017  23rd November 2017 S.R.11/2017  27th November 2017 S.R.12/2017  27th November 2017


2018

Marriage and Civil Status Law S.R.1/2018  26th January 2017 Migration Policy S.R.7/2018  9th April 2018

Comments Papers

  1. The Panel presented 8 comments papers:

Comments  Presentation Date

2015

Draft  Public  Finances  (Amendment  of  Law  No.  2)  (Jersey)  19th May 2015 Regulations 201- (P.42/2015): amendment.

Draft  States  of  Jersey  (Transfer  of  Functions  No.  8)  4th December 2015 (Miscellaneous Transfers) (Jersey) Regulations 201- (P.46/2015):

comments (Jersey Property holdings)

Draft  States  of  Jersey  (Transfer  of  Functions  No.  8)  4th December 2015 (Miscellaneous Transfers) (Jersey) Regulations 201- (P.46/2015):

comments (Fisheries and Aquatic Resources)

2017

Draft Employment of States of Jersey Employees (Amendment  12th January 2017 No.  8)  (Jersey)  Regulations  201-  (P.105/2016):  amendment

(P.105/2016 Amd.) – comments.

Draft Employment of States of Jersey Employees (Amendment  27th March 2017 No. 8) (Jersey) Regulations 201- (P.11/2017): comments.

Draft The Law Society of Jersey (Amendment No. 4) Law 201-  28th April 2017 (P.136/2016): comments.

Immigration  (Amendment)  (Jersey)  Order  2017:  extension  to  16th June 2017 Jersey by Order in Council (P.26/2017) – comments

Draft  Asian  Infrastructure  Investment  Bank  (Immunities  and  14th November 2017 Privileges) (Jersey) Regulations 201- (P.68/2017): comments

Amendments

  1. The Panel lodged 13 amendments (and two addendums):

Amendment  Lodging date

2015

Draft  Strategic  Plan  2015   2018  (P.27/2015):  eleventh  14th April 2015 amendment.

Draft Strategic Plan 2015 – 2018 (P.27/2015): twelfth amendment. 14th April 2015 Draft  Strategic  Plan  2015   2018  (P.27/2015):  thirteenth  14th April 2015

amendment.

Draft  Public  Finances  (Amendment  of  Law  No.  2)  (Jersey)  19th May 2015 Regulations 201- (P.42/2015): amendment.

Draft  States  of  Jersey  (Transfer  of  Functions  No.  8)  1st December 2015 (Miscellaneous Transfers) (Jersey) Regulations 201- (P.46/2015):

second amendment.

Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 2019 (P.72/2015): fourth  18th September 2015 amendment.

Medium  Term  Financial  Plan  2016   2019  (P.72/2015):  fifth  18th September 2015 amendment.

Medium Term Financial Plan 2016 – 2019 (P.72/2015): twelfth  22nd September 2015 amendment.

2016

Draft  Medium  Term  Financial  Plan  Addition  for  2017   2019  13th September 2016 (P.68/2016) – eighth amendment

2017

Future Hospital Funding Strategy (P.130/2016): third amendment. 4th April 2017 Future Hospital Funding Strategy (P.130/2016): third amendment  13th April 2017

(P.130/2016 Amd.(3)) – addendum.

Future  Hospital  Funding  Strategy  (P.130/2016)  (as  amended): 2nd May 2017 third amendment (P.130/2016 Amd.(3)) – second addendum.

2018

Draft Marriage and Civil Status (Amendment No. 4) (Jersey) Law  16th January 2018 201- (P.91/2017): second amendment.

Draft Marriage and Civil Status (Amendment No. 4) (Jersey) Law  25th January 2018 201-  (P.91/2017):  second  amendment  (P.91/2017  Amd.(2))  

amendment

Draft Marriage and Civil Status (Amendment No. 4) (Jersey) Law  25th January 2018 201-  (P.91/2017):  second  amendment  (P.91/2017  Amd.(2))  

second amendment

Roles of Scrutiny

  1. The Code of Practice for Scrutiny Panels sets out the four main roles of scrutiny as Policy, Legislation, Annual Business Plan/Budget and Matters of Public Interest. We have undertaken work in each of these areas:
  • Policy: Migration Policy, Future Hospital Funding Strategy
  • Legislation:  Public  Finances  Law,  Transfer  of  Functions,  Employment  of States of Jersey Employees Regulations, Electoral Reform, Law Society of Jersey, Immigration Law, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Draft Marriage and Civil Status Law
  • Annual Business Plan/ Budget: Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP), MTFP Addition, Draft Budget 2016, 2017 and 2018
  • Matters of Public Interest: Jersey International Finance Centre

Methods of working

  1. Review panels – Review panels are formed by the Chairmen's Committee to review a particular proposal, issue or project which may cut across the remit of a number of different scrutiny panels. We contributed to a number of review panels, including: Future Hospital Review Panel, Machinery of Government Review Panel and the Brexit Review Panel.

Future Hospital Review Hearing, November 2016


Future Hospital Review Panel visiting the hospital, November 2016


  1. Quarterly Public Hearings with Ministers – The  Chief  Minister,  Treasury  Minister  and  External  Relations Minister appeared before us on a regular  basis to answer questions about topical issues falling  within their respective remits.  

At  three  of  our  quarterly  hearings,  we  invited  members of the public to submit questions to be put  to Ministers.  

  1. Advisers We appointed expert advisers to assist  with a number of our reviews. In addition to providing  Public Hearing with the Chief Minister, February briefing notes on evidence received and assisting  2015

with question plans, advisers met with departmental

officers  on  a  number  of  occasions  to  discuss

important background to their work. Advisers' reports were appended to the relevant

final reports.

  1. Briefings We received regular informal briefings from ministers and officers on matters relevant to our remit. Briefings were often provided at the start of a review or on one-off matters of importance. Briefings received included: the work of the States of Jersey Development Company, Personal Tax Review, Income Forecasting Model, Machinery of Government changes, Brexit, Population and Migration, and the draft Extradition Law.

Suggestions for future work

  1. In this section, we have identified possible areas for future work by a successor Panel including forthcoming legislation. In addition to a general suggestion that consideration be given to the recommendations made by the Panel in the reports listed above, we would highlight the following:
  • Migration Policy: We published a short report on Migration Policy in April 2018. As the Policy is not due to be debated until September 2018, we did not feel it appropriate to undertake an in-depth review. Instead, our high level report drew out some of the key areas of the policy, in anticipation of future work to be undertaken by Scrutiny.
  • Jersey International Finance Centre: We undertook a significant piece of work reviewing the feasibility of the Jersey International Finance Centre (JIFC). As part of this work, we assessed the financial viability of the JIFC, assisted by expert advice from EY plc. We note that a recent Ministerial Decision has been signed which gives in principle' permission for IFC1 to be sold, subject to certain conditions. The Panel recommends that such a sale should be a trigger for a scrutiny or Public Accounts Committee Review to consider the financial return  compared  to  the  original  projections  and  the  viability  assessment completed by EY. This review should take into account the variances in market conditions between the original projections for the scheme, EY's assessment, and market conditions at the time of the sale. The review should also ensure that all costs of the scheme, to the States as a whole, are taken into account.
  • Marriage and Civil Status Law: The Panel's review of the draft Marriage and Civil Status Law highlighted that the drafting of the law had been rushed. Our review picked up a number of areas where the law needed to be improved, however  we could not guarantee to have picked up all of them. We also identified  a  potential  issue  with  church  buildings  under  the  final  approved version of the law. The Chief Minister accepted our recommendation that he should report back to the States Assembly before the law comes into force and we would recommend that this is followed up by our successor panel.
  • Access to Justice: The Panel received a briefing on the  draft Access to Justice  Law prior  to  it  being  lodged.  The  draft  Law  introduces  significant changes to the Legal Aid process and we expect that this is something our successor panel will wish to look at.
  • External Relations Policy: We commenced a review of the Island's External Relations Policy in summer 2017. However, due to other pieces of urgent work coming before us, we were not able to continue with the review. At our request, the  Minister  for  External  Relations  recently  published  a  Global  Markets Strategy and this could form the basis of a future scrutiny review.

Further Suggestions

  • Public  engagement:  We  recommend  that  scrutiny  panels  continue  to  explore  new  ways  of  engaging  members  of  the  public  with the work of scrutiny. This might  include different times and venues  for public hearings[1], increased use  of social media and different styles  of  report.  We  would  encourage  panels to be innovative in how they  work.  Future Hospital Review hearing held in the States Chamber, February 2018
  • "Ask  the  Minister":  We  suggest

that more opportunities are given for

members of the public to submit questions to be asked in public hearings. We trialled this in a number of hearings with the Chief Minister[2] over the last 2 years and the Health and Social Security Panel also trialled it in its Organ Donation Review.

  • Legislative amendments: When complex pieces of legislation come before the States, they can often be subject to numerous amendments. This can lead to States debates becoming complicated and difficult to follow. We would recommend that scrutiny  panels  (and  indeed  all  Members)  consider  carefully  how  legislative amendments  are  structured,  to  ensure  that  debates  do  not  become  overly complicated. In particular, where amendments relate to different areas of a draft law, it is strongly recommended that these are lodged as separate amendments to ensure a separate debate and a separate vote can be held on each distinct amendment.
  • Executive work programme: It has been acknowledged that the last few months of the 2014-2018 States Assembly saw an unprecedented number of legislative items lodged for debate. This challenged the capacity of all scrutiny panels. Ministers must ensure that sufficient time is built into the law making process for legislative scrutiny.

Twitter campaign for a quarterly public hearing with the Chief Minister